Einstein-Elevator: A New Facility for Research from μg to 5 g

Increasing efforts to move into space have driven the need for new facilities that are capable of simulating weightlessness and other space gravity conditions on Earth. Simulation of weightlessness/microgravity (approximately 10⁻⁶g) is conducted in different earthbound and flight-based facilities, often with poor availability. Other conditions such as lunar or Martian gravity with their partial Earth gravity/hypogravity cannot be performed at a large scale for scientific research on Earth. For multiple Earth gravity/hypergravity, simulation centrifuges are available, but they do not allow the possibility of abrupt acceleration changes. To support this wide range of conditions, a new technique is being developed to combine all of these requirements into a single drop tower facility. Currently under construction, the Einstein-Elevator of the Hannover Institute of Technology at the Leibniz Universität Hannover is an earthbound tool created for simulating micro-, hypo-, and hypergravity research with a high repetition rate. The facility will be capable of performing 100 experiments per day (8-h work shift), each creating 4 s of microgravity. For the first time, statistics can be applied in experiments under space gravity conditions at favorable costs and short mission times. The Einstein-Elevator offers room for large experiments with a diameter up to 1.7 m and a height up to 2 m as well as weights up to 1,000 kg. To perform larger experiments under different gravitational conditions, it was necessary to develop an innovative drive and guide concept. The Einstein-Elevator will be available for general research under different gravity conditions from 2018 onward.